Medical question about anxiety and breathing. Is this why?

[greenleaf]

When in a panic attack and breathing *feels* more difficult, (but really isn't) is that because the body is trying to take in *more* oxygen than needed which would explain the rapid heart beat and hyper breathing? Maybe the body is saying internally, more, more, more and you feel unsatisfied with each breath because the body wants more than you need.

For example. Like with an allergic reaction sometimes the body triggers an anxiety like reaction as a defense to either raise blood pressure, ect.

So could anxiety be triggering someone to produce this defense but in a non allergic or non dangerous situation and just be trying to take in more air explaining why some people say they *feel* like they are having trouble breathing when in fact breathing is normal?

This is just a guess. I don't have the answer so I am asking people that might know.

Does anyone know if this is possible or true?

[Robbed]

Much like obesity, anxiety is a classic case of human evolution not having caught up with modern life. Indeed, both anxiety and obesity (or, at least the tendency to stuff one's self with food when it is available) are traits that were once advatageous to survival. In the case of anxiety, the bdy is basically preparing itself to either run or fight. And this means increasing breathing rate to take in more oxygen, increasing heart rate in order to improve delivery of oxygen to the muscles, tensing the muscles in preparation for action, and stopping those peace-and-love, touchy-feely thoughts we love so much in favor of thouhts more centered around the threat at hand. Of course, this all works quite well if you come face to face with a bear. But it is completely counterproductive in a world where the threat is simply having to get a project done.

Then there is anxiety and/or panic disorder. When the body is exposed to either a constant stress or extremely intense stress, it basically goes into this mode full time for the long haul. Again, the orignal purpose of this was to deal with those threats faced by mankind back under more primitive conditions. Of course, at this time, it just makes our lives miserable and DECREASES our ability to cope. But unfortunately, this sort of thing is not just going to go away after a few thousand yearsof civilization, if ever.